This is a productive way to spend 15 minutes. At the end of it, you will have a tub of intense flavors that can live on your fridge shelf for the next week, to be used in countless dishes.

Firstly, you need a food processor.

Next, anywhere between 150 to 300 grams of cashews.

cashews

Then basil and parsley. I happily nipped ’round to the garden to get mine!

parsley-basil-garlic

a lady bug chilling on our parsley plant

Gather up some garlic, olive oil, miso (or salt if you don’t have any at hand), and some lemon juice (fresh is best).

this is good

Now you can throw the cashews, herbs, and garlic in the whizzer. Add a generous drizzle of olive oil, a heaped teaspoon of miso, and let rip.

Carefully add your lemon juice, and a few dashes of water. Be really careful at this point because the consistency will change on you very fast. You can leave it chunky and herby, or blend it into a delicious paste/butter, which is what I accidently did. But what a happy accident!!!

This stuff kicks ass. Today, I’ve already transformed sauteed greens by mixing in the pesto towards the end of cooking, and earlier I put a dollop of it on brown dirtied up rice with newly sprouted broccoli seeds. The flavor is actually mind blowing! It is so cheesy, so rich, so fragrant and basil-y. It is the perfect thing to have lying around in the fridge to keep incorporating into meals.